I can rave about my BG2.0 as my defense carry, but I still have some concern about its reliability.
Why the S&W Body Guard 2.0 was selected as the 2024 Handgun of the Year by Guns & Ammo and Caliber Award for Best Handgun of the Year from the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers is difficult to understand.
Since its release in July 2024, the number of documented issues with it is more than substantial. It’s almost pathetic that a legendary firearm manufacturer could release a new innovative design with so many design and quality control failures. Coupled with the unsympathetic customer service responses, the out-of-the-box performance was a disappointment for me.
Just my thoughts…
S&W did a great job up to about 95%, then they dropped the ball badly.
They let several known manufacturing production issues slip by – the frame and barrel alignment, causing the front and rear sights to be shifted abnormally out of barrel alignment. Ironically, that adjustment still didn’t completely correct the low-left POI.
I’m not completely convinced that my BG2 doesn’t have an inconsistent lockup issue.
The design, weight, size, ergonomics, and shootability in a 380 are amazing. The grip texture and low bore axis is excellent. A 13-round capacity striker fired pocket carry self-defense at 16.6 ounces!!… it could have been nominated for Handgun of the Decade.
The 5% of where S&W dropped the ball is…
The issue with the ridges, requiring a polish job, on the barrel chamber ramp and the frame ramp that caused ammo feed issues should never have gotten to production.
The trigger safety blade is wider than the trigger. When pressed during a trigger pull, the trigger safety would catch on the frame causing a slight rough squeeze. I fixed that in about 60 seconds with a finger nail file.
Too many parts falling off the gun have been reported after only a few 100 rounds.
The manual thumb safety could have been a little bigger and the action could have been smoothed.
The guide rod and spring assembly was a stupid design. The end cap should have been thread into the end of the guide rod. The lack of quality control of the spring is inexcusable - allowing it to pop out from under the guide rod end cap.
The front sight should have been a green tritium with bright green paint. The rear sight slot could have been narrower and have two small white dots. The top of the front and rear sights has sharp edges. Those edges could have been very slightly rounded to prevent them from wanting to catch when pulling out of a pants holster.
I don’t know if the slide design could have been made so the striker could be removed without removing the rear sight. For me, thoroughly cleaning the striker channel and firing pin without removing the rear sight is not an issue.
I also don’t know if the force it takes to rack the slide could have been less. Talon grips are wonderful.
At time of purchase, my BG2 barrel chamber had been polished, so I had zero failures with 12 different ammo types. After 603 rounds, I’ve had zero failures.
I’ve had to drift the front sight 3 times before correcting the low-left due to sight alignment. The factory sights are good for me. I don't need a dot optic or laser.
My BG2.0 is my first choice for a defense carry. It is incredibly small, lightweight, highly concealable and comfortable. It is an excellent pocket carry in pants front pocket. Drawing my BG2 from my front pants pocket is not quite as fast as drawing my P365 Micro from an OWB Mitch Rosen leather holster at 3’oclock, but fast enough. Inconspicuously having my hand in my front pants pocket, gripping the gun and ready to extract if from the Muddy River Tactical kydex holster is a nice feeling.
Knowing what I know now after August 2024, I would have paid an extra $500 if S&W offered a purchase option that included a custom assembled, selected components, QC’d and measured tolerances, verified sighted in 1” to 2” group at 30 feet, and 25 rounds test fired with 3 of the top self-defense ammo types.
Am I asking too much?
